Jack control device for circular knitting machine



Filed April l, 1958 Dec. 11, 1962 A. MAZZI 3,067,599

JACK CONTROL DEVICE FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet l FIGA A. MAZZI Dec. 11, 1962 JACK CONTROL DEVICE FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April l, 1958 //V VF/V TOI A19/1 /7/5 /VA ZZ/ Dec. 1 1, 1962 A, MAZZI 3,067,599

JACK CONTROL DEVICE FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed April l, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet I5 FIG. 5

/NVE/vro" /mA/v/s MA zz/ A. MAZZI Dec. 11, 1962 JACK CONTROL DEVICE FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed April l, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 uns Al um un l al //V VEN TOR- A/A/W/s MA z z rat This invention relates to a control device for so-called jacks for the control of the needles in a circular knitting machine, particularly for the manufacture of stockings.

According to the invention, there is provided in a circular knitting machine, a needle control device including a plurality of slider cams arranged to be selectively controlled to determine the action on rows of butts of the jacks to cause lifting of the latter in a predetermined progression, comprising four slider cams for the tuck stitch control, jacks on the needle cylinder to form the tuck stitch, four sets of butts arranged on a set of four adjacent jacks, two rows of butts being arranged to correspond to a first arc and two rows of butts corresponding to a second arc, two jacks being provided with a long butt and a buttless portion, and two jacks with two medium length butts in such manner that at each row of butts on the four jacks there is included butts of three lengths and a buttless portion, the slider cams being capable of insertion to act selectively on the various butts, there being also additional cams and rows of butts for providing additional controls.

Rotary cams may be arranged to determine during a revolution the complete insertion of a slider cam relating to a row of a pair of rows of selection butts of the jacks; during another revolution, the insertion of the other slider cam referring to the other pair of rows of selection butts of the jacks; during a third revolution, the insertion of a slider cam to lift the jack having the longest butt and the insertion of the other cam (of the two cams relating to each pair of rows of selection butts) to lift the jacks having the long `butts and that having the butt of medium length; during a fourth revolution, the insertion of the last cam to lift the jack having the long butt and the other cam of each pair to lift the jacks giving the long butt and that provided with an intermediate length. During an inactive half-revolution, the cams are moved to be arranged for the subsequent stage. This control provides for an additional feed. If a single feed is to be provided, each of the aforesaid revolutions is followed by a revolution with all the cams inserted. In the embodiment, the improved device substantially involves a plurality of additional slider cams which are controllably inserted by spring means and which are controllably disengagedthat is, withdrawn with respect to the jacks through corresponding links which are driven by a plurality of coaxial continuously simultaneously rotating cams, which are shifted in order to obtain the desired control. The set of rotary cams is carried by a structure transversely movable with respect to the rotational axis to determine the exclusion of the rotary cams from the operation and to determine the operation of said additional up stroke cams through additional selection means which directly act on the cams or links controlling the latter. The structure supporting the rotary cams is connected to the stationary structure by means of a hinge pivot. The continuous rotation of the cams is determined from the machine main shaft and particularly from a control member of the needle cylinder by means of a drive which also keeps the drive during the displacements of said cam structure.

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Fora better understanding of the invention, reference FIGURE l is a view partly in elevation and partly in section with conventional members of the machine shown diagrammatically;

FIGURE 2 is a side view taken along line II-II of FIGURE l;

FIGURES 3 and 4 are views, partly in section and partly in elevation, taken along lines III-III and IV- lV of FIGURE 2, respectively;

FIGURES 5 and 6 show the development of the rotary cams in double feed and in single feed conditions, respectively;

FIGURE 7 shows diagrammatically the rows of needles and jacks; and

FIGURE 8 is an operational diagram showing the development of the control cams of the needles and of the jacks arranged around the needle cylinder.

In the drawings, 1 denotes the needle cylinder, 2 denotes the stationary circular structure forming a plate surrounding the needle cylinder and on which most of the machine members are carried. A bevel gear 3 is rotated by means of the machine main shaft and meshes with a geared rim 4 designed to effect a continuous drive of the needle cylinder 1.

A spur gear 5 is borne by the same main rotary shaft of the machine and meshes with a pinion 6 carried by a small shaft 7 held by a support 8 mounted on the underside of the plate 2. A vertical pin 1t) is aflixed to the underside of the plate 2 and has pivoted thereon an arm 11 of a structure 12 which forms a support for rotary cams. For this purpose, the structure 12 carries a vertical shaft 13 to the top of which are secured the rotary cams 14, indicated at 14B, 14C, 14D and 14E, respectively. The cams 14 are continuously rotated as the shaft 13 is driven by a worm wheel 15 which, in turn, is driven by a worm shaft 16 coupled to the shaft 7 by means of a universal joint 17 and a sliding coupling 18 (see FIG. 4). In this manner, the joint 17, being only slightly spaced from the pin lil, rotation of the shaft 16 is maintained, whatever the position assumed by the structure 12. The structure 12 is stressed by a spring 19 to bear against an adjustable stop 20. Under these conditions, the cams 14B to 14E are in an active position. The structure 12 may be moved from this position by acting on an extension 12a of the structure 12 by means of a rocker lever 22 pivoted at 23 (see FIG. 4) and operated by a tie rod 25 or the like of a remote control connected to the machine control members. The extension 12a may be adjustable in order to define the inoperative or exclusion position of the cani supporting structure 12.

Levers 27B, 27C, 27D and 27E cooperate with the cams 14B to 14E, respectively, and said levers together wi-th the upper lever 27A, are pivoted on a column 28 carried by the plate 2. rl`he lever 27A is substantially rectilinear and formed as a rocker, while the levers 27B to 27E each have an extension which cooperates with a corresponding cam 14, said extensions being the only visible part in FIG. 3. One end of each of the five levers 27A, 27B, 27C, 27D and 27E acts respectively on slider cams 3ilA, 30B, 30C, SlD and 30E which are guided in a single frame 31 and are inclined with respect to the horizontal and therefore with respect to the plane of the corresponding levers 27. Springs 32 radially stress the sliders 30 toward the needle cylinder in order to insert them so as to determine the action of the rods on the jacks housed in the grooves of the needle cylinder. The additional cams or sliders 3l) are thus operated by the cams 14B to 14E with the exception of the upper slider 30A.

The control of the additional cams or sliders 30A to 30E is also deter-mined by a pair of iin-like cams indio-ated at 34 and 35, the first 34 being mounted coaxially andA movable on an inner shaft, the second 35 on an outer Atubular shaft. A lever 38 underlying the plate 2 is secured to the inner shaft while a lever 39, also underlying the plate 2, is secured to the outer one. The levers 38 and 39 are operated by two tie rods 4t and 41, respectively,- driven by a general control member of the machine. In this manner, the cams 34 and 35 may be independently controlled, the former to act on the lever 217A and to deren mine the movement of the corresponding slider 342A against the action of the springs 32, when the tie rod 4d is pulled back, while the other cam 35 acts simultaneously on the four levers 27B to 27E to simultaneously lift the respective additional slider cams 3dB, 361C, SGD and always against the action of the springs 32. The cams 1d are moved by means of the action of the lever 22 operated, in turn, by pulling the cable 25. 'Ihe arrangement is designed for an automatic welt.

As will be seen especially in FIGURE 7, the jacks are subdivided along two arcs a and respectively, the jacks of the arc a being indicated by 161, 102, 1% and 164 in sets of four which are successively repeated, and those of the arc` are indicated also in sets of four by 2%1, 292, 263, and 204. The jack 164, adjacent to the arc ,B is indicated by 1948. All the jacks are provided with a row of guide butts about the alignment or row F, the butts being indicated at 10112, 102B, MPSF, 104? and by 2MP, 23213, 203i? and 234B, respectively, and being alternately short and long butts. Another set of guide butts is provided along a row A and these are partly long and partly short, the jacks corresponding to the arc 5 being the long ones. This arc has its ends in position at the centers of the arcs a and In correspondence of the arc the butts MIA, 102A, 103A and 104A, and 201A, 202A, ZSSA and 2t54A, are long and correspondingly the needles 21@ have the short butts. In the complementary arc, the butts of the jacks in the row A are short and the needle butts are long.

The jacks along the arc a are provided at row B with butts having three different lengths and these are also provided in row C. Thus, the jacks 191 are provided with a short butt 161B (for instance, a millimeter long), the jack 102 with a long butt 102B (for example, four millimeters long) and a jack 103 with a medium length butt 163B (for example, 2.5 millimeters long) while the jacks 104 have buttless portions in this row B.

At the row C, the jacks 1111 are provided with the medium length butt 101C, the jacks 1d?. have buttless portions, the jacks 103 are provided with `a short butt 103C and the jacks 104 are provided with a long butt 104C. In the arc the jacks are buttless in the rows B and C. In the rows D and E, the jacks along the arc a have buttless portions while the jacks along the arc are provided with the following butts.: the jacks 261 each have a short butt 201D; the jacks 2112 have a long butt 292D and the jacks 203 have a medium length butt 203D, while the jacks 204 have buttless portions. Along the row E, the jacks 2111 are provided with medium butts 201B, the jacks 262 have buttless portions 21B'2E, the jacks 203 are provided with short butts 203B and ythe jacks 204 are provided with long butts 204B. The only jack different from the others is indicated at 1048, and is, on the contrary, provided with a long butt also in the row B, in relation to the jacks 104.

The butts arranged along the rows B, C, D and E are controlled by the slider cams 3G' for forming the tuck stitch, while the butts at the rows A and F are guide butts for particular controls `described hereinafter. The butts along the row A `are designed to make the plain stitch sole under the foot, the cam 30A always lifting said long butts and thus the jacks of the corresponding needles; the short butted needles correspond to the zone of the insole and therefore are lifted by means of the upward movement of the jacks with the butts 101A, 102A, 103A and 164A which are high along the arc` By means of the cam 34 the insertion and the disengagement of the cam 30A is determined for the aforesaid selection. The Cam 45 is designed. to act Q11 the butts 1011?, 102B, 193.5 and IMF, ZF, 2021:, 2031: and, 29141:, to selQCt th@ needles consecutively for the different stages whereby to obtain a vconsecutive selection, which serves, for example, for forming the elastic welt with a resilient stitched yarn (the `so-called leg-heel Zone). For' this purpose, the stationary `cani 4S is provided which lifts only the long butts of the jacks of the row F wit-hout clearing the stitch. In addition tothe cams 3i? and the cam 4S, along the development of the needle cylinder (see especially FIG. 8) there is arranged an upper central cam 4d, lower central cam 47, two up and down stroke cams 4S and 49 flank ing the central cam 46, a down stroke cam 49a between the lcam and the cams 3d cooperating with a lower earn S0 `and cams 51, 52 and S3. When the double feed is provided, the feed of the yarn is established in corre-V spondence to the position A1 and in correspondence to the position A2 (see FIG. 8) and for the closure in the clear'- ing of the stitches by means of the cam 48 and the cam 49.

In order to effect a double feed or supply, after the forming of the welt and the under-welt in the usual manner, the formation of a conventional tuck stitch is ef'- fected in the following manner (see FIG. 5):

Through the cam 49a with the yarn fed in at AZ the piain stitch revolution or the plain stitch cycle is deter mined, while with the yarn fed in correspondence of A] by means of the carns 46 and d8, the .tuck Stitch cycle is determined. During this cycle, one needle out of four needles does not clear the stitch. The needle which does not clear the stitch is one or the other of each set of four needles corresponding to the set of jacks i101, 1012, 193 and and 261, 292, 263 and 204.

The `first revolution may be analyzed with reference to FIG. 8. During the half revolution along which the sets of jacks corresponding to the arc a pass in front of the slide earns 36, the `cam ilC is inserted while the cam 36B is excluded. The tuck stitch is then formed as the jack 1412, having a buttless portion in the row C, remains low. It should be understood that the various needles, as lifted by the jacks, perform a knitting operation. During the half revolution oc, the cams or sliders 36D and 30E are arranged for work during the half revolution During the half revolution ,8, the cam StrE is fully inserted while the ca-rn 39D is fully excluded. The tuck stitch is then formed, since the jacks 2112, having buttless portions in the row E, remain low; and the cams 3dB and 36C are arranged for the first half revolution a of the second revolution, During the first half revolution a of the second revolution, the cam 30C touches the medium butts, that is, those denoted by 101C of the jacks 16,1 and only lifts the long ones, that is the jacks 104. The cam 30B touches the short butts 161B and lifts those `denoted by 102B and 163B, that is, it lifts the jacks 102 and 103. The jacks 101 thus remain lowered while the others are lifted and the cams 361D and 36E are arranged for the second half revolution of the second revolution. During the half lrevolution of the second revolution the cam 30E lifts the long butts 21MB, that is, lifts the jacks 204, while the cam 30D lifts the butts 292D and 203D. Therefore, only the jack 201, forming the tuck stitch, remains lowered and the cams 30B and 39C are arranged for the rst half revolution of the third revolution.

In the first half revolution a of the third revolution, the cam 30B is fully inserted and lifts the jacks 101, 162, 163 and 1048. The cam 30C is totally excluded and therefore the jacks 164 which form Vthe tuck stitches, eX- -cept the jack 1048, remain lowered. The cams 30D and SGE are arranged for the second half revolution. In the second half revolution of the third revolution, the cam 39D is totally inserted and lifts the jacks 201, 202 and 203. The carn 30E is totally excluded and the jack 204, forming the tuck stitch, remains lowered. The cams 36A and 30B are arranged for the first half revolution of the fourth revolution.

In the rst half revolution of the fourth revolution, the cam 30B lifts all the jacks having the long butts, that is, the jacks 105,2, while the cam 30C lifts the jacks 101 and 104, that is, those having the medium and long butts along the alignment or row B. The jack 103 thus remains lowered and the cams 30D and 30E are arranged for the second half revolution. In the second half revolution, the cam 30D lifts the long butts, that is, lifts the butts of the jacks 202, while the cam 30E lifts the jacks 201 and 204 which have the medium and long butts, respectively. Therefore, the jack 203 remains lowered.

The cycle is repeated, as already stated, at every four revolutions. It is to be noted that the needles also form a plain stitch in correspondence to the feed A2. The jack 1045, that is, the first of the set to be met is special, that is, it is provided with a long butt in the alignment or row B, in such manner that the needle corresponding to this jack always forms the plain stitch at all revo-lutions forming an irregu'ariy due to the presence of two adjacent needles which do not clear the stitch and which are operated by the first jack 201 (adjacent the one denoted by 104S) and by 104s.

Of course, the movements of the cam 30 will be started with a delay and will finish'. with an advance with respect to the adjacent activehalf revolutions.

To effect Aanother conventional type tuck stitch, in which the succession is that of lowering during the four revolutions, respectively of the needles correspnnding to the jacks 101, 102, 103, 203, 101, 201, 104, and 204, there is no need for the particular jack 104S.

In the diagram of the cams illustrated in FIG. 5, the lengths corresponding to the four revolutions, which are controlled by the cams 30 and the half revolution of each revoiution, are illustrated. The illustrated arrangement of the development of the cams corresponds to a double feed under certain tuck stitch conditions. In order to determine formation of still another conventional type tuck stitch, it is suflicient to move the cam 14C into the position of the cam 14D and the cam 14D into the position of the cam 14C with respect to the position illustrated in FIGURE 5 and so on for other types of tuck stitches.

FIG. 6 illustrates the contour and the mutual arrangement of the cams relating to the formation of a tuck stitch with a single feed in correspondence to A1. This is always done in such a way as to form a plain stitch revolution and a tuck stitch revolution, during which tuck stitch revolution one needle out of four needles does not clear the stitch.

In forming the tuck stitch with two feeds (FIG. 5) the cams 14 effect one revolution for every four revolutions of the cylinder. When using a single feed (cams of FIG. 6) one must obtain a ratio between the cam revolutions and the cylinder revolutions equal to 1/s. This means that (see FIG. 6) the development of the cams 14 must be completed after eight revolutions instead of four. In this case, during the first revolution in the arc a the cam 30B is totally excluded so that the jack 102 is not lifted during the arc the cam 30B is totally excluded so that the jack 102 is not lifted during the arc the cam 30E is fully inserted and the cam 30D is fully excludedy so that the jack 202 is not lifted. During the second revolution in the arc a, the cam 30C is fully inserted and the cam 30B is fully inserted to form the plain stitch. During the arc the cam 30E is fully inserted and so is the cam 30D whereby the second revolution the plain stitch is formed. During the third revolution in the arc a, the cam 30C is partly inserted to lift the long butt and the cam 30B is inserted to lift the jacks 102 and 103, the jack 101 remains lowered. During the arc the cam 30E lifts the jack 204 and the cam 30D lifts the jacks 202 and 203, the jack 201 remains lowered. During the fourth revolution, all the four cams 30 are inserted, whereby the plain revolution is formed. During the fth revolution of the arc a, the cam 30C is fully excluded, the cam 30D is fully inserted, so that the jack 104 is not lifted. During the arc the cam 30E is fully excluded and the cam 30D is fully inserted, so that the jack 204 is not lifted. During the sixth revolution all the cams 30 are inserted and, therefore the plain revolution is determined. During the seventh revolution along the arc a, the cam 30C is inserted to lift the jacks 101 and 104 and the cam 30B is inserted to lift only the jack 102, the jack 103 remaining lowered. Along the arc the cam 30E is inserted to lift the jacks 201, 204 and the cam 30D is inserted to lift the jacks 202, the jack 203 remaining lowered. During the eighth revolution all the cams are inserted and therefore a plain stitch revolution is determined. Then the cycle begins again with the new first revolution.

Whatever is the arrangement of the control of the tuck stitch, in order to form the automatic welt, that is to select the needles in an alternative way, the cams 14 are excluded from the operation by the displacement of the body 11, 12 and the cams 30B, 30C, 30D and 30E, by means of the cam 35, are partly inserted to lift the long butts and to touch the medium butts, as to lift only thev jacks 102, 104, 202 and 204.

In order to determine Ithe so-called splint, that is for forming the plain stitch sole under the foot, the cam 34, operating the cam 30A, is inserted to lift the jacks which have a long butt 101A, 102A, 103A, 104A and 201A,

202A, 203A, 204A, in correspondence to the arc asI above described.

It is intended that the drawing illustrate only one ernbodiment of the invention and that variations may be.

made without departing from the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

l. In a machine for manufacture of stockings, With tuck stitches: a cylinder provided with grooves, an assembly of needles and an assembly of jacks in the grooves;

for the control of the jacks for the formation of the tuck stitches, four slider cams designed to be selectively controlled; in the assembly yof |said jacks, two rows of guidebutts and four rows of selection butts to cooperate with said slider cams; the selection butts of two rows beingA arranged in one of two arcs in which the cylinder circumference is divided, the selection butts of the other two rows being arranged in the other arc, in a group of four adjacent jacks, two jacks with -a long butt and a buttless portion and two jacks with a short butt and a medium butt, respectively, so that on each row the four jacks include the butts of the three lengths and a buttless portion; yarn feed means associated with said four slider cams; yarn feed means at a second feed position; and four rotary cams acting on said four slider cams to determine: during one revolution of said rotary cams, the complete insertion of one slider cam for a row of each pair of rows of the jack selection butts; during another revolution, the complete insertion of the slider cam for the other pair of rows of the jacks selection butts; during a third revolution, the complete insertion of a slider cam to lift the jack having the long butt and the complete insertion of the other slider cam to lift the jacks having the long butt and the medium butt of each pair of rows of selection butts; during a fourth revolution, the complete insertion of the last lslider cam to lift the jack having the long butt and the other slider cam of each pair to lift the jacks having the long butt and the medium butt; each slider cam being moved to be arranged for a subsequent stage during an inactive portion of a preceding revolution.

2. In a machine according to claim 1: -a set of the jack guide butts, formed by an arc of the short butts and by a complementary arc of the long butts, the short butts of said row `of guide butts corresponding to the long butts in the needles and vice-versa; the arcs of the long and short guide butts being substantially in quadrature with the arcs of the two pairs of rows of selection butts; and a cam which raises said long guide butts to form plain stitches under the foot of the stocking.

tuck stitches: a cylinder provi-ded with grooves, an assembly of needles and an assembly of jacks in the grooves; for the control of the jacks for the formation of the tuck stitch, four slider cams designed to be selectively controlled; in the assembly of said jacks, two rows of guide butts and four rows of selection butts to cooperate with said slider cams; the selection butts of two row-s being arranged in one of two arcs of which the cylinder circumference is divided, and the selection butts of the other two rows being arranged in the other arc: in a group of four adjacent jacks, two jacks with a long butt and a buttless portion and two jacks with a short butt and a medium butt, respectively so that on each row the four jacks include the butts o-f the three lengths and a buttless portion; yarn feed means for said four slider cams; and four rotary cams acting on said four slider cams to determine: during a rst revolution of said rotary cams the complete insertion of the Islider caml relating to a row of each pair of rows of the jacks selection butts; during a second revolution the insertion of all the slider cams; during a third revolution, the insertion of the other slider cam relating to the other row of each pair of the rows of the jacks selection butts; during a fourth revolution, the insertion of all the `slider cams again; during a fifth revolution, the insertion of a slider cam to lift the jack having'the long butt and the insertion of the other slider cam relating to each pair of rows of selection butts to lift the jacks having the long butt and the medium butt; during a sixth revolution the insertion of all the slider cams again; during a seventh revolution, the insertion of the said last cam to lift the jack having the long butt and the other cam of each pair to lift the jack-s having the long butt and the medium butt; and during an eighth revolution the insertion of all the slider cams again; each slider cam being arranged during an inactive portion of each revolution to function during a subsequent active portion of the same revolution.

4. A machine according to claim 3, further including: a set of the jack guide butts formed by an arc including the short butts and by a complementary arc including the long butts, the short butts of said row of guide butts corresponding to the long butts in the needles and vice-versa; the arcs of the long and short guide'butts being substantially in quadrature with the arcs of the two pairs of rows of selection butts; and a cam which raises said long guide butts to form plain stitches under the foot of the stocking.

5. A machine according to claim l, further including: a row of jack guide butts wherein the buttsV are cyclically long and short, and cams to select certain of needles without clearing the stitch to knit in a resilient yarn a resilient welt.

6. A machine as in claim 1 in which slider cams are biased for insertion by means of springs and are moved away from the jacks through corresponding links which are controlled by a plurality of coaxial cams rotatable continuously and simultaneously, wherein a set of rotary cams is borne by a structure transversely movable with respect 'to the rotational axis thereof to determine the exclusion of the rotary cams from the operation; selection means provided to act directly on the control links of the slider earns, and a drive to determine the continuous rotation of the rotary cams extending from a control member of the needles cylinder to said structure and including joint and sliding means to maintain the drive during displacement of said structure, and means to withdraw the slider cams from the operation including cam lifting means which act by rotation on links and rockers to control the slider cams.

7. A machine as in the claim 6, wherein the structure bearing the rotary cams is biased against adjustable stop means, and return means to move the structure in the reverse direction to exclude the rotary cams.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,810,277 Billi Oct. 22, 1957 2,872,796 Peel V, V. Feb. li), 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 751,811 Great Britain July 4, 1956 l ll 

